Advance photo/Derek AlvezDongan Hills resident Greg Masiello (of S.I. DeMarco’s Gym in the red shirt) makes contact with his opponent during a boxing fund-raiser held at RollerJam, Richmond Valley.RICHMOND VALLEY -- Staten Islanders showed up for a good cause — and cheered on their own — last Thursday night as RollerJam USA hosted a boxing show aimed to keep alive the Park Hill Boxing Club in Clifton.

The club, formerly supported by the Police Athletic League (PAL), lost its funding due to recent budget cuts. The club is just one of the many endeavors that the PAL stopped funding, but a showing of some 600 at RollerJam USA for the fund-raiser sent a clear signal that “the sweet science” is a subject many young men and women can learn from.

Tottenville resident and retired NYPD sergeant Pat Russo was the longtime director of PAL boxing for the city. The former Golden Gloves champion has preached about the positive aspects of the sport, especially because it can help guide and provide discipline to youngsters who need it. When the PAL dropped its funding, Russo picked up the baton by establishing the non-profit Cops ‘n’ Kids boxing program.

Over the past two years, Russo has kept many former PAL fighters in the ring and off the streets. But financially, he can’t do it alone, thus triggering the need for last Thursday’s fund-raiser. The event featured several Staten Island pugilists going up against boxers from other clubs in the city and from New Jersey.

With tickets priced at $20, “the event netted — $7,000 — enough money to keep the gym open another year,” said Russo, who is being assisted by the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation. The foundation picked up the tab to cover insurance costs for this year.

There were 14 three-round fights on the card, all supervised by referees and officials sanctioned by USA Boxing. Nine of the bouts featured local boxers all of whom either train at Park Hill or at DeMarco’s Gym in Richmond Valley.

West Brighton resident Steve Bacciano of DeMarco’s, Russo’s nephew, won a decision from fellow 12-year-old Safi Nettles (PAL of Hackensack, N.J.) in the 90-pound weight class.

“I love everything about boxing,” beamed the Prall Intermediate School seventh-grader after winning his inaugural bout.

Charleston resident Alisha Ruffino, who has been training at DeMarco’s for a year, was out pointed by Long Island’s Kathy Rosnick in the lone women’s fight.

Still, the 32-year-old cake decorator stated, “It was an amazing experience.” Despite owning her own business ‘Lil’ Lee’s Treats, in Charleston, the former karate competitor gravitated toward the sport because “I needed something to call my own.”

Dongan Hills resident and Monsignor Farrell High School junior Greg Masiello dropped a very close — and very unpopular — decision in the 132-pound novice class to Gami Maisonette (Mendez Boxing Club of Manhattan).

“I worked so hard for it,” said the disappointed 17-year-old afterward. “But this will make me work harder.”

After Kenny Robles, an 18-year-old from West Brighton, lost his 132-pound novice decision to Mendez’s Joe Serrano, fellow Park Hill Boxing Club product Marcus Browne left the crowd in a buzz with a first-round TKO of Lucandro Tutete (Ike’s Gym of Paterson, N.J.) in a match of 178-pounders.

The 19-year-old Browne, a Golden Gloves novice division champ in 2008, was making his first appearance since losing in the GG open division finals last year.

“It was nice to win in front of the home crowd,” said the Clifton resident, who floored Tutete with a straight left hand.

Islanders split their final four bouts — with wins for West Brighton’s Jose Collazo (a 17-year-old Tottenville High School senior) and 24-year-old Huguenot resident Giorgio Giove; and losses for 22-year-old Bay Terrace resident Santino Barone (NYC Parks Department employee) and for city police officer Chris Kergis, 26, of Tottenville.

For Giove, who has been training at DeMarco’s for two years, boxing is a “great stress relief” from his job as one of the pizza-making brothers of Brothers Pizza in Port Richmond, a family-owned business for 30 years. “I usually work one week and am off the next; but when I work, it’s a 120-hour work week.”

Russo knows all about putting in hard hours.

“I’m really happy this was a success, but I would still like to see the PAL restore funding for boxing so we wouldn’t need to have fund-raisers,” he said. “If people really wanted to help, even more than donations, they should write the PAL and tell them to do that.”

According to Russo, the person to contact is Felix Urrutia, executive director of the PAL. E-mails can be sent to Furrutia@palnyc.org.